Catalonia
Barcelona is the anchor and most trips never leave it, which is a mistake but not a fatal one: Girona, Tarragona and the Costa Brava's coves are all within two hours by train or a short drive, and the Empordà behind them holds the best medieval villages in Catalonia. Catalonia has its own language, its own kitchen and a firm sense of being a separate country, which shapes both how you are received and what you eat. The trade is that the coast north of Blanes is heavily built up in summer, and the Pyrenees, which are the region's other half, are four hours from Barcelona.
How long this region actually takes
Four days is Barcelona and one day out. A week lets you add Girona, the Costa Brava and Montserrat without spending the whole time in transit.
Where to put your nights
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The questions that decide the trip
The Costa Brava is the coast worth having: rocky coves, pine cliffs and small ports north of Blanes. South of Barcelona the Costa Daurada is flatter, sandier and more resort, with Sitges as the exception.
The coves around Calella de Palafrugell and Cala Aiguablava are the best of the Brava — small, clear and reached by steps or a short path. In Barcelona, the city beaches are convenient rather than good.
Pa amb tomàquet, escalivada, mar i muntanya, and the market cooking of Barcelona — the Boqueria for looking, Sant Antoni and Gràcia for buying. Penedès and Priorat wines, and calçots by the dozen in winter.
Roman Tarragona, with its aqueduct, amphitheatre and circus; Girona's Jewish quarter and cathedral; the Romanesque churches of the Pyrenean valleys; and Barcelona's Gothic quarter, which is medieval, and its Modernista grid, which is not.
Very possible. Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Sitges and Montserrat all have trains, and the high-speed line reaches Girona in forty minutes. The Covas and the wine country do not.
The Costa Brava's coves and inland villages, the Empordà, the Pyrenean Romanesque and the Priorat's terraces.
May, June, late September and October. July and August are hot and the coast is at capacity; April is changeable.
August, unless you want Barcelona at its hottest and the coast at its fullest — mid-August also closes a good number of small restaurants for holidays.
Five days in Catalonia
Three nights in Barcelona — Gothic quarter, Sagrada Família booked ahead, one market, one museum — with a day trip to Montserrat or Sitges, then two nights in Girona, a morning in Figueres for the Dalí museum, and a drive through the Empordà villages to Cadaqués and Cap de Creus.
Where Catalonia gets compared
Experiences worth booking ahead
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Everywhere in Catalonia
- Basílica de Santa María del Pi
- Casa Batlló
- Casa Dalí at Portlligat
- Catedral de Barcelona
- Catedral de Girona
- Dalí Theatre-Museum Figueres
- El Call (Jewish Quarter of Girona)
- Empúries
- Festa Major de Gràcia
- La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
- Monastery of Poblet
- Monastery of Santes Creus
- Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
- Palau de la Música Catalana
- Park Güell
- Picasso Museum Barcelona
- Roman Tarragona (Amphitheatre and Circus)
- Sagrada Família
- Sant Climent de Taüll
- Santa María de Taüll
- Santa María del Mar
The other regional guides
Turn Catalonia into an actual itinerary
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